In the broadband Olympics, US is not in the running
Ookla site lets you compare download speeds by country, city and state
We often hear that the United States lags behind other countries in the number of broadband connections, but just how far behind are we?
Ookla, which operates sites on which you can test broadband speed and quality (Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net), has created the Net Index, which presents data from more than 1.5 billion diagnostics around the world. The site, which is updated daily, compiles data from Speedtest.net and ranks consumer download speeds based on the average speed during the previous 30 days in which the mean distance between server and client is less than 300 miles.
The results, presented in graphs and charts, lets people compare their Internet service providers to others and lets governments see where broadband infrastructure needs improvement, Ookla officials said, pointing out that the information could be useful in developing the National Broadband Plan. The results below were taken May 30.
The index also ranks the fastest cities — Seoul leads at 35.03 megabits/sec; San Jose, Calif., is the fastest U.S. city, in 18th place with 15.06 megabits/sec — and includes a map of the United States that reveals the average download speeds for each state when you hover the cursor over it.
Click here for a larger image. Source: Net Index by Ookla.
About the Author
Kevin McCaney is the executive editor of GCN. Follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCaney.